Album Review: Levelz – LVL 11

Representing themselves as a collective supergroup consisting of Chunky, Jonny Dub, Black Josh, Truthos Mufasa, Sparkz, Fox, T-Man, Chimpo and Skittles, LEVELZ started working together a little over two years ago.

The Manchester squad has done some crazy things, such as touring London in a stretch Hummer while delivering melons and mixtapes around the city, a statement which on its own should be enough for any reader to decide if these musicians are for you or not. Those still reading must be as crazy as these guys, and you really need to download their new LVL 11 mixtape. You can do this for free on their Bandcamp page where you can also buy T-shirts, which in turn go perfectly with the cover of the mixtape as they both depict a burger oozing with purple goo.

While the cover is simple, their thirteen songs on the mixtape are not. Lyrically the guys are sharp and on point, but it’s the instrumentals that catch my ear. They are really varied and there is no one genre of music you can class it as. They fuse the best parts of grime, disco, hip hop, reggae and G-funk and add extra bass. It all sounds incompatible, but legendary producers and DJs from Manchester such as Biome, Dub Phizix, Rich Reason and Metrodome do a great job of making it all work out.

If you have ever partied with any of these guys you will know this mixtape is 100% them, because when they start to party they don’t slow down. ‘King Of The Disco’ forces you to go hard even at 6 am when you feel like sleeping. ‘Rowdy Badd’ will make you pull out your finger guns and go extra rowdy, and with their ‘How 2 Party’ jam they will certainly teach you just that. And then there is that ‘deeper’ song, ‘Slow Down’, which talks about working hard on your dream without slowing down. But don’t worry, they quickly turn back to the party themes, because what’s more important then partying and having fun?

After you explore this mixtape from A to Z, you’re ready to party with this bunch, which you can do at Outlook Festival in Croatia, where they always go hardcore. Only in the summertime, when everything is easier can you get into that Levelz state of mind.

Mostly listening to hip hop and electronic music but I'll listen to anything. I always try to find something new and explore music as much as I can. If I have to put myself in some kind of music genre box, I would put myself in "good music" box. P.S. I'm maybe Croatian but I'm living in a land of glitter, unicorns and festivals.